Blademaster combat

I'm new to the whole blademaster combat thing, I've got a few things set up for combat, which work for the most part. I was given a few suggestions in-game about what I should do, but I was wondering if I could find out what would be good slash/strike combos to at least have a decent idea as to what I should do for combat for both 1v1 and group. Any suggestions?

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Good defaults:Anything/Hands will screw over most physical classes.Lightning/Temple or Lightning/Chin are effective for mana-burn strategies.If you have good timing, Pommelstrike can open up pseudo-herblock chains, saving you using Voidfist to, say, secure a pre-impaleslash. For instance, Neck/Throat/Neck/Chest/Neck/Eyes/Neck/Ear can screw with people - heck, just neck/chest looping can disorient the unwary. (I've actually made someone think I had a Monk jumping them with Telepathy mid-duel before because of the Hypochondria spam.)

In groups, you'll either be pinning targets down (Pommel/Hamstring and/or Pommel/Knees) or damage-spamming (Pommel/Sternum or Impalespam). Balanceslash can also be subbed in for Pommel there, they're roughly equal, but I prefer Pommel for the stun and faster balance.

Good defaults:Anything/Hands will screw over most physical classes.Lightning/Temple or Lightning/Chin are effective for mana-burn strategies.If you have good timing, Pommelstrike can open up pseudo-herblock chains, saving you using Voidfist to, say, secure a pre-impaleslash. For instance, Neck/Throat/Neck/Chest/Neck/Eyes/Neck/Ear can screw with people - heck, just neck/chest looping can disorient the unwary. (I've actually made someone think I had a Monk jumping them with Telepathy mid-duel before because of the Hypochondria spam.)

In groups, you'll either be pinning targets down (Pommel/Hamstring and/or Pommel/Knees) or damage-spamming (Pommel/Sternum or Impalespam). Balanceslash can also be subbed in for Pommel there, they're roughly equal, but I prefer Pommel for the stun and faster balance.

Blademaster is entirely viable using just Hands to prep, Neck spam to set up a pre-impaleslash, and Knees on the break to Impale, Bladetwist x4, Brokenstar. Chest and Throat add options, but you'll mostly use them as distractions.

Basic strategy is to set up both legs to one hit from breaking (my counter's a big help for this, but however you do it is fine so long as you do it), pommel/neck three times and impale in the herb balance gap, impaleslash, legslash/knees, impale, bladetwist x4, Brokenstar.

There's alternate methods, most of which revolve around getting more bladetwists or squeezing the impaleslash in after the legbreaks.

Experiment with the tools you have, look for how you kill people, and see how to optimize that result.

Would it be best for me to test things out on a dragon who has artefacts or anyone who has artefacts for that matter? Because I've tested something for keeping someone from getting on their mount, which worked rather well as it kept them off their mount long enough for me to actually break their legs with knees.

In bold are the skills I have, though I'm sure you might already know this, but if you do hamstring and then feet you can keep them off their mount after you have prepped their limbs, giving you enough time to slash once and break both legs as well as doing knees, leaving you able to get the impale should you so choice to.

Yeah, Hamstring prevents remounting, it also prevents almost everything else movement-related. Including Evade. It's beautiful and a core thing you should be keeping applied - it lasts about 8 seconds, and hitting with it during that duration resets it, so a common thing is to have every 3rd (for safety) or 4th (for more use of other strikes) strike be Hamstring.

Yeah, Hamstring prevents remounting, it also prevents almost everything else movement-related. Including Evade. It's beautiful and a core thing you should be keeping applied - it lasts about 8 seconds, and hitting with it during that duration resets it, so a common thing is to have every 3rd (for safety) or 4th (for more use of other strikes) strike be Hamstring.

Feet was moved earlier in the skill a while back. I think hamstring is 9 seconds, but wouldn't swear to it not being 8.

Another question I have is when I should use Multislash, and what infuse I should use with it?

Multislash is basically useful when you need a large burst of damage. I personally haven't found many cases where it's reliably useful, at least in 1v1, but that's probably more my own failing than anything else. Generally, though, I think you'd want to infuse it with whatever element will maximize it's damage; since infusions don't actually increase damage, just change damage type, that means whichever one the target is likely to have the least resistance to. That'll vary somewhat depending on the target and other circumstances, but ice is probably a good default.

I see, that makes sense, so would you say that Multislash would be good for group combat instead of 1v1? And do you have that trigger set up to start when you do hamstring and use the line you get when you strike hamstring?

Hamstring is 8.5 seconds. Also strike hands is a bit buggy, I did some extensive testing with a monk and a knight class with strike hands and it would say it numbed the hand but they could still use it. I submitted a bug report not too long ago.

Also

@Ryzack, try to find out some of the combat information in-game from doing spars and analyzing the logs or asking your house combat leaders for help. People will like that.

I do, I've had a lot of help with doing it, which is what has allowed me to come up with these questions, I'm just trying to figure out what others use and what would be good for getting the hang of blademaster combat

Hamstring is 8.5 seconds. Also strike hands is a bit buggy, I did some extensive testing with a monk and a knight class with strike hands and it would say it numbed the hand but they could still use it. I submitted a bug report not too long ago.

Also

@Ryzack, try to find out some of the combat information in-game from doing spars and analyzing the logs or asking your house combat leaders for help. People will like that.

Just double checked hamstring, 9s even. Not sure about the alleged strike hands bug, might test if I have a chance.

I see, that makes sense, so would you say that Multislash would be good for group combat instead of 1v1? And do you have that trigger set up to start when you do hamstring and use the line you get when you strike hamstring?

Multislash is basically a trap ability. About the only time you'll find it useful is in mangle-lock strategies, if you can't outpace your target's limbcuring for whatever reason. It can add a nice big burst of damage at the end of the chain, if you time it properly so they're prone but about to stand when you use it.

Pretty much any other time you use it, you're going to be punished for using it. Heck, when I was a Blademaster, if you used Multislash on me I'd just thank you for the free impale.

It's been a while since I played my BM, but strike hands was never effective. The numb doesn't consume their balance on attempt, and the numb only lasts something like .2-.5 seconds, so if the person was spamming to chase balance (assume they are), hands was useless.

I see, that makes sense, so would you say that Multislash would be good for group combat instead of 1v1? And do you have that trigger set up to start when you do hamstring and use the line you get when you strike hamstring?

Personally, Blademasters make better hindering partners in group combat. Balanceslash, pommel/neck(or hamstring(or knees)), voidfist+anyone with venoms, fast impales - a smart BM working with the group can keep someone in the room for a long time.

I see, that makes sense, so would you say that Multislash would be good for group combat instead of 1v1? And do you have that trigger set up to start when you do hamstring and use the line you get when you strike hamstring?

Personally, Blademasters make better hindering partners in group combat. Balanceslash, pommel/neck(or hamstring(or knees)), voidfist+anyone with venoms, fast impales - a smart BM working with the group can keep someone in the room for a long time.

This.

Blademasters make insane hindrance partners, and if you and your teammate(s) know how to synergize, you can very swiftly go from hindering to killing. They have very fast attacks with stun and afflictions attached, sync up properly and ten second kills from a standing start aren't difficult to pull off.

(I had to edit myself briefly there, I said 'we have' instead. You can take the player out of the class...)